1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an anti-rattle spring for a disc brake of the type in which at least one friction element is directly slidably mounted on a torque-taking member and a hydraulic fluid acting means is provided in a caliper form so as to straddle a peripheral portion of a friction disc or rotor together with the pad assemblies engaging the opposite faces of the rotor. The terms "spot type disc brake" as used usually in the art, refer to the above mentioned type of the brake.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the spot type disc brake, it is customary that one or either pad assembly is directly mounted on a pair of arms which are circumferentially spaced and extend from the torque-taking member in the axial direction of the rotor, so that the pad assembly may slide on the arms by being urged by the hydraulic fluid acting means into engagement with the corresponding friction face of the rotor.
In order to prevent the pad assembly from corrosion as would become afixed to the pad assembly and the arms together so as to defeat the purpose of sensitive and prompt response of the brake, a suitable width clearance is usually formed between the anchoring face of one of the arms and the correspondingly engaging face of the edge of the pad assembly. Since this clearance tends to permit relative movement between the pad assembly and the arms and accordingly results in a rattle or noises which may be annoying to the passengers, particularly when the vehicle traverses uneven terrain, it has become customary to provide an antirattle spring which restrains the relative movement when the brake is in a rest position.
However, the antirattle spring currently in use is formed to be inserted entirely or at least partially into the clearance which is usually narrow. This is apt to cause the antirattle spring to structurally interfere with its associating parts and results in being inadequately sized for want of space when the spring is designed. It has therefore been difficult in the art to provide a sufficient resiliency such that the antirattle spring may be compressed and relaxed for an indefinite number of cycles without losing its resiliency during the service life of the brake.